Jay C. Batzner is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches theory, composition, and technology courses as well as coordinates the composition program. He holds degrees in composition and/or theory from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kansas.

Jay's music is primarily focused around instrumental chamber works as well as electroacoustic composition. His music has been recorded on the Capstone, Vox Novus, and Beauport Classical labels and is published by Unsafe Bull Music.

Jay is a sci-fi geek, an amateur banjoist, a home brewer, and juggler.

This morning I checked my email and found that my Concerto for Timpani won the UK Percussion Ensemble Composition Contest. I'm really excited, being that this is the first time I've ever won anything. Now the piece will get another performance in Lexington, KY (UK as in University of Kentucky, not as in United Kingdom) and I even get a cash award. And I get to put "award winning" in my bio, nyuk nyuk!

Ok, I probably won't do that. But I might.

I don't feel any differently about the piece, which I think is a good one, nor do I expect to ever win anything again. But I do hold this as a testament to my "send stuff to everything you can" philosophy. Who knows what reasons the judges have in picking the pieces that they do. You just gotta keep sending your stuff out there. I hope that my students start to set time aside for searching for opportunities and sending their scores out. Stuff like this isn't going to happen without a bit of hustle.

So, I'm pretty happy today. This is cool. If the same piece wins the Barlow Prize, not only will I do backflips I'll definitely adjust my bio...

...and I kinda look like him, too. In a McKenzie Brothers sort of way, that is.

Anyhow, today I got the video from Carla Poindexter to which I am to provide the soundscape (interesting grammar, I know). I want to show it to everyone because it is so cool but, I can't. I won't. Not until it is all done. Like the opening monolog in Glengarry Glen Ross.I'm stoked. Can you tell? I'm sure this will provide some interesting fodder for the podcast.

Okay, it wasn't a pre-test. It was more of a survey. I wanted to know where my students' heads are/were in my Composition I class. The highlight (to me) was the "Is this music?" section. I played five 1 minute excerpts and asked the students to rate them on a 5 point scale. I wasn't asking the students if they LIKED the excerpts but if they thought the excerpt could be considered music. A 5 meant that "yes, definitely, this is music." A 3 meant "not sure," and a 1 meant "No, absolutely not." If they scored something less than a 2, they were explain why.

Much to my surprise, the only perfect 5 was the Beethoven. Cake scored an average of 4.9 (one person gave it a 4). Elliott Carter got a much-surprised and highly-respectable 4.6. Adrian Moore's Study in Ink got just above a 3 and F'loom's Postman-Hill Victory Correspondence came in last with 2.45.

I got some really interesting data on other stuff, too. It gives me a thumbnail sketch of how they are thinking. And thinking is good.

posted by Jay C. Batzner

8/20/2007

5th Festival of Contemporary Music - final report

The concert Saturday night went well. There was a great variety of pieces, both acoustic and electroacoustic, and everything was well performed and programmed. People seemed to like my piece, but in person everyone seems to like it. I suppose it is better than having people spit in my face. Better they do that when I'm not around...

The concert was at a Community Music Center and the hall was a nice intimate venue. So much of the listening that I do these days is online or on CD and it is refreshing to be in a relatively small space with good performers. The organizers of the festival, Brian Bice, John Bilotta, and C. Michael Reese put together a good show. It is a small festival, two concerts on non-consecutive nights in two different venues. The real strength, I think, is that these concerts happen outside of academic places and in "real" communities.

My non-festival highlight of San Francisco was Amoeba Music. I bought a bunch of great CDs from their used and clearance bin and I look forward to scheduling time to eventually be able to listen to them. How can you go wrong with $4 Druckman CDs and Harbison for $2? They even had Trevor Wishart and Jarvinen discs in the clearance/used bin. All told, I bought 8 CDs and spent just pennies over $40. That was almost worth the trip right there...

It was also great to finally meet/greet Adam Fong, Philip Schuessler, and Phil's friend/composer/bass clarinetist Jon Russell (whose name I forgot in my previous post).

Sidebar: lots of Johns at this shindig per capita. Allemeier, Bilotta, Russell. Just a bit over 20% of the composers. Discuss.

posted by Jay C. Batzner

8/18/2007

5th Festival of Contemporary Music - initial report

I'm in San Francisco for the 5th Festival of Contemporary music. I had an all-day faculty shoot-out on Thursday so I was unable to get to Thursday's concert (which featured, among others, the Collected's superstar Philip Scheussler). Mike McFerron, of EMM fame, is also on the ground and on tonight's concert. I know or have met at least 50% of the folks at this festival at previous things, which is one of the first times that has happened. Cool.

While I didn't get to hear the music, I still have reports to give. Last night I met up with Philip, Adam Fong, the Collected's local representative, and a bass clarinet/composer friend of Philip's whose name is escaping me at the moment (jet lag). We went to the Stinking Rose, a touristy garlic-themed restaurant, then we grabbed some pastry a few blocks up and talked. It was great. I was exhausted from all-day plane travel and it was great unwinding and talking shop with the guys last night.

The hotel is probably the biggest news. It is nice and close to everything, but leaves many amenities to the imagination. No phone (I don't have a cell), internet only in the lobby, the doorknob to my bathroom fell off, etc. It has all the charm of a Soviet bloc dorm room. At least it has its own bathroom and is within walking distance of damned near everything. The bed is comfy, which is also a plus. I'm not spending a lot of time in there, so it is a minor detail at best.

Today, I'm meeting up with McFerron and hitting the town. The gang last night told me that Amoeba Music is a must, so I must. I'm looking forward to the concert tonight. If you are in the area, swing by. I'll report more when I have more.

posted by Jay C. Batzner

8/07/2007

Programming

I'm the programming director for Electronic Music Midwest and I am currently putting together all of the concerts for this coming October's festivities. In some ways, the job is easy. I rip every accepted entry into iTunes, make a playlist for each concert, and keep the total music per concert at just under/around an hour. In many other ways, it is tough. Some pieces are made and broken by the pieces around them. Stage logistics dictate as much about what pieces can go together as artistic reasoning does.

Where should I put MY piece?

My strategy has always revolved around initial responses to the pieces. I pick a piece and say "Yes, this HAS to open our final concert, it rules!" or "This thing needs to be the centerpiece or focal piece of a concert." Then I try to put some variety and continuity around it all. My goal is to maximize variety and make continuity as subtle as it can be. For example, we had a LOT of pieces for cello and tape/electronics accepted. I could put them all on one concert to contrast the different writings, but it would be a logistical nightmare (individual setups for each performer) and after a while we might all get sick of cello and electronics music. I've scattered them out and hooked them thematically into other pieces. One work for live player comes late in a concert where a tape piece uses recorded cello sounds. One work with "Fishing" in the title is a bookend to a video piece with intense underwater imagery.

I haven't finalized everything yet, there are still details to consider, but this is the strategy that I have. It worked last year, anyway. I hope to never be "cutesy" in my thematic selections but just interesting enough to me that all the pieces make sense as a unit.

Come October, we'll see.

posted by Jay C. Batzner

8/03/2007

Back, but not quite

Well, I took a little hiatus (finally) which represents the first (and only) time in 2007 that I left Florida for non-professional reasons. It is...kind of good...to be back. Anyhow, while I was away I did manage to squeeze out a few podcasts.

My in-laws live in Chicago and I am seriously torn about getting up to the Lyric to hear Dr. Atomic. It would be a quick turnaround (up Friday, opera Saturday, back Sunday). Those of you who saw it: is it worth the trek? Should I wait for the Orlando Opera to do it? (assuming I live that long)

Since it relates to my latest Unsafe Podcast, here is the best record you will ever watch...